“Brasserie Blanc is a place for relaxed enjoyment where I can offer you simple, high quality food” – Raymond Blanc
Brasserie Blanc, the creation of legendary chef Raymond Blanc, has found favour with the media and customers alike thanks to its affordable French food and relaxed, informal atmosphere.
2012 will be the company’s busiest year to date with an incredible 11 new sites set to join the nine currently open.
Following recent openings in Berkhamsted and St Paul’s, Brasserie Blanc is delighted to announce the 16th May launch of a superb new venue located at the iconic Opera Terrace in the heart of London’s Covent Garden.
With its stunning arched glass ceiling and views across the piazza, the Grade II-listed building housing this latest addition to the Brasserie Blanc collection is a destination in itself.
Located directly opposite The Royal Opera House, this airy and spacious brasserie – the largest bar/restaurant overlooking the piazza – makes optimum use of its balcony location, with daylight flooding through the glass walls. Some of the classic design elements of the grand traditional Parisian brasserie have been retained, but with a contemporary twist.
As with all the restaurants in the group, Opera Terrace will serve superb French cuisine at accessible prices. The dishes are created by Raymond Blanc with many inspired by his mother, Maman Blanc. Clive Fretwell, the group’s executive chef and former head chef at Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, oversees the kitchens on a daily basis.
Brasserie Blanc prides itself on using seasonal ingredients, including sustainable, free-range or freedom foods. Menus change according to the seasons but current menu items include Burgundian snails in garlic herb butter; slow cooked belly pork, roast green apple sauce & spring cabbage; free range Cornish steaks and the all-time favourite dessert, flaming baked Alaska.
In addition to the à la carte menu, a prix fixe Dine with Wine menu will be available. Consisting of two courses with a glass of red or white wine, this is available from 12 noon to 7pm and is ideal for pre-theatre dining.
Aside from the 100-cover restaurant, Brasserie Blanc Opera Terrace will also feature a stand-alone cocktail bar with its own entrance from the Jubilee Market. Bar Blanc will offer a superb cocktail list, not to mention London’s largest selection of absinthe, served traditionally, slowly dripped over sugar cubes.
For private drinks functions, an intimate cocktail bar called ‘Little B’ will also be available for exclusive hire for up to 20 people.
The site at Covent Garden will also include a crêperie on the ground floor, where delicious sweet and savoury crêpes will be available to eat at café tables on the piazza or to take away.
Brasserie Blanc’s superlative offering extends to its outside space, which will accommodate up to 100 diners. The bar too, has a small al fresco section, and the terrace area will be heated, allowing the Covent Garden summer to extend by a good few weeks every year.
Under the day-to-day direction of chief executive Mark Derry and managing director John Lederer, Brasserie Blanc is fast becoming one of the UK’s most successful restaurant groups, thanks to an emphasis on providing a first-class product at a fair price. Aside from Covent Garden, 2012 will also see the opening of six new outlets in Central London, along with Berkhamsted, Bath, St Albans and Farnham.
